From the directors of the 2009 horror film The Uninvited comes this gritty action revenge thriller with major twists in a cat-and-mouse effect.

Retired Irish paratrooper Michael O’Hara has been trying to escape his small town along with his wife, who is pregnant and in labor. The duo has learned the SAS has been infiltrating and Michael is the target. When his wife tells him to leave her as a distraction, she is killed by SAS agent Tempest. O’Hara decides to go to London in an effort to get revenge. Tempest, at risk of losing his SAS status due to his mistake, is offered a chance at redemption by working with a local government organization led by Holland.

Meanwhile, O’Hara has learned some fellow IRA superiors have been infiltrating and going undercover in London. With help from Catherine, O’Hara learns that Tempest has a girlfriend, Ruthie, who operates a clothing shop in the city. Deciding to use Ruthie in an attempt to get to Tempest, O’Hara begins to play a deadly game of cat and mouse against Tempest. As Tempest begins an attempt to retaliate, internal strife with both factions may put an end to both O’Hara and Tempest’s missions at hand.

Fourteen years after their last directorial effort of the horror film The Uninvited, Tom and Charles Guard are back with this gritty 70’s-set action thriller that they also wrote loosely based on actual events that had happened during that era in London. The film meshes the grit of those classic crime dramas mixed in with a cat and mouse psychological thriller involving a retired IRA agent against a SAS officer.

Aml Ameen and Colin Morgan are the driving forces of the film in the respective roles of SAS officer Tempest and retired IRA officer O’Hara. Both actors bring emotionally charged performances in their roles. Ameen plays Tempest as someone who has made a major mistake and despite getting a reprieve, is somewhat embarrassed by the event and fails to tell his love Ruthie, played by Sophia Brown, about what has happened and feigns coming back for her. Mark Strong is excellent in the role of Holland, the higher up who offers Tempest a choice to either turn himself in and forced out of the military or work for him as a reprieve.

As for O’Hara, he is injured in the melee that was the aftermath of his wife’s death at the hands of Tempest. Of course, with help from IRA bigshot Keenan, played by Tom Vaughan-Lawlor, O’Hara has to be known as “disappeared” to assist him. However, while Keenan is a hard-headed top dog, Felicity Jones’ Catherine is a more level-headed and at times sympathetic towards O’Hara. A pivotal scene involves O’Hara running into Ruthie at her shop and here, we see what he wants to do, but instead does something smarter that is all part of the turmoil between Tempest and O’Hara. The finale is quite interesting as well as it is not as predictable as one would expect.

Dead Shot is a welcome return for the Guard Brothers, meshing a cat and mouse game with the gritty style of 1970s London crime dramas. Aml Ameen and Colin Morgan are excellent in their roles with great support from the likes of Mark Strong and Felicity Jones. If you like crime thrillers, this one should be checked out.

WFG RATING: A-

Quiver Distribution presents an Upper Street production in association with Highland Midgie, Piecrust Pictures, Rocket Science, Stylopik, and Vested Interest. Directors: Tom and Charlie Guard. Producers: Rebecca Brown, Chris Coen, Brian Coffey, and Thorsten Schumacher. Writers: Tom and Charlie Guard, based on an original screenplay by Ronan Bennett. Cinematography: Mattias Rudh. Editing: Ted Guard.

Cast: Aml Ameen, Colin Morgan, Tom Vaughan-Lawlor, Mark Strong, Felicity Jones, Máiréad Tyers, Dara Devaney, Sophia Brown, Andrea Irvine, Jack McMullen, Will Keen.

The film will be released in select theaters, On Demand, and Digital on August 18.